Finally Found True Love A Dallas Winston Love Sto
by universe.disturber
Summary: Lucy Curtis, the youngest of the Curtis siblings, has been a member of her Greaser gang for her whole life. She's never been in love with any of the guys, until one time when she looks at Dally. I don't like summaries, but read anyway! T for language.
1. My First Sight

True love is something I never knew I could find. I knew that I could "fall in love" with guys for brief amounts of time, but never have a real, true love. My best friends were true love, which was for sure. Still, I never thought I could have a romantic true love.

You see, I've liked plenty of guys, if you consider two plenty. A few years ago there was this boy named Michael and I thought he was cute and sweet, but considering he was a Soc, we could have never been. That was in seventh grade, and after I got over Michael, I went to a guy from my gang.

All of the guys in the gang are some of my best friends, even though I am related to some of them. The day I came home after Michael had told me he couldn't be my boyfriend, I came home sulking. I knew that when I walked into my house, my friends would be there ready to cheer me up.

"Hey guys, look who's home and looking like the world will end in seven days?" my brother, Sodapop Curtis shouted to the guys when he saw me. Soda loves me, but he has a tendency to tease me, even though I know he just wants to help.

"Hi Soda," I sighed and plopped myself down on the couch. I really did feel let down by Michael. After all, we had kissed in the park near his place, and then his older brother chased me out of there because I was a Greaser and they were Socs.

"What's the matter, Lucy?" Sodapop asked me. "You look like you had all the life drained out of you. Did something happen at school?"

"Yeah," I continued to complain and sigh, "Michael told me he couldn't be my boyfriend."

Sodapop looked at me sympathetically and put his hand on my knee. "I'm sorry he broke up with you," he said. "What an idiot. He ain't got no sense in his head if he didn't want to stay with a beautiful girl like you."

"Thanks. I just don't understand why he had to go and do that. I really thought he liked me."

"Well, he probably did. He probably just didn't want to be the Soc boy dating the Greaser girl. I think that's dumb."

"I do, too. Where is everybody else?"

Sodapop glanced around the house. "Outside, I think. You want to go see what they think of the situation?"

"Sure, let's go."

He led the way to our backyard. Everybody was sitting out there, even Ponyboy and Johnny, but I didn't understand how they had gotten back from school before I had. Becky, Jacklyn and Kelcie were there too, and they hadn't left much before me either.

"Hey Lucy!" Becky greeted me cheerfully. "I was looking for you after school, but I couldn't find you for the life of me! Where were you?"

My eyes shifted to the ground as I replied, "Talking to Michael."

Two-Bit's eyes got wide as he imitated the typical, gossipy girl. "Ooh," he jokingly cooed, "Michael the Soc! How is that dumb ass, anyway? That boy must think he's so cool for dating a Greaser, but I don't understand why you don't just stick with your own kind, Lulu."

"You know what, Two-Bit?" Sodapop snapped at him. "You've already blown it."

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"If you must know," I finally spoke again, "Michael told me there was no way he could be my boyfriend. What an idiot! And you know the only reason he broke up with me is because I'm a Greaser. Maybe you're right, Two-Bit. I should stick with one of my own kind."

"Well, another Greaser is sure to be less prejudiced," my oldest brother Darry supplied. "Michael had learned from the worst. His brother Paul used to be friends with me, you know, and then he stopped because we came from different sides of a city. That's really stupid, and I wouldn't want my baby sister hanging around with a guy like that."

This was sweet of Darry and everything, but I hate it when he calls me his baby sister. Ponyboy, who is my brother but the youngest of the guys, is only a year older than me, so people think of us more as the twins than me as the baby.

"Thanks, Darry. What do you guys think I should do?"

"I think you should just find a new guy," Kelcie advised. "You should find another Greaser. I hear Curly Shepard is single."

"Nice try, but I am not under any circumstances going to date Curly Shepard. I'd date Soda before him." As you can see, I wasn't fond of Curly. He was way too crazy and risky for my taste.

"I'm pretty sure that's called inbreeding, Lucy," Sodapop joked.

"I'm pretty sure I'm just trying to prove a point," I snapped.

This is how much I love my middle brother. He appreciates my jokes and loves to talk to me a lot more than the other two.

"Lucy, I think you should just swear off men forever," Ponyboy told me. "I hated seeing you with Michael, and that ain't just because he's a Soc. You just seem like the type who should never be involved with a guy who wasn't her own brother or gang member who wanted to give her a hug."

When he finished saying this, I went over and punched him the gut. I love all my brothers, just not when they want to make me seem like I'm going to grow up and become a cat lady.

"Ouch!" he squealed. I had to admit, I was pretty good at making people hurt physically, but I had to work on the emotional part. Michael, apparently, was great at making me miserable. I didn't want to talk about anything other than making him suffer in one way or another.

"I agree with Kelcie," Jacklyn added to the list. "Find another guy. There's gotta be one out there who loves you for yourself, and just happens to be a Greaser like you."

"Only in fairy tales, Jacklyn," I sighed.

"Funny, because I thought that rumbles and murders had to be cut out in order to make it a fairy tale," Two-Bit joked again, his voice seeming absent and not fully there.

"Shut up, man! Just shut up!" At this time, I was screaming my lungs out. Why couldn't anyone other than Sodapop just help me out here?

"I think you should stick something like a spider or pig guts in his locker," Steve plotted. "Then he'll scream like the Soc he really is. They scream real high-pitched and loud."

"So far I like Steve's idea best!" I said only half-honestly. "Come on, guys, think of something better."

"I vote pig guts if we're going with that idea," Becky piped up out of nowhere.

"Do you have an original idea, Beck?" I asked, losing my patience by the nanosecond.

"Yeah, make one of these guys fall in love with you." She said this and looked over at the only two who hadn't yet spoken, Johnny and Dally. Her eyes quickly shifted from them to everyone else. They all nodded with her.

"What the hell are you guys all nodded and glancing about?" I shrieked.

"I don't know, but it's making me nervous too," Johnny admitted. The two of us were really great friends, and I was one of the four females that actually got the guy to talk. Johnny was good-looking and everything, but I wouldn't want to move beyond friendship with him.

"Don't be nervous, Johnny," Ponyboy assured him. "It ain't you we're talking about."

The only person left that Becky could have possibly been considering was Dallas Winston, whom we all called Dally. He was the sexiest looking of all the guys, and he really was handsome. Becky, Jacklyn, Kelcie and I all thought that Dally was the sexiest one and Soda was the cutest one, and even I had to agree, despite the DNA factor.

"Why are you all looking at me now?" Dally snapped. He looked at me and his face turned from hard and bitter to soft and understanding. And just like that, I fell in love with Dally.

My throat got dry and I couldn't open my mouth to speak to him. Dally had been another one of my best friends for years, and not being able to talk to him made me even more nervous. So I just stared into his big brown eyes and got lost in them. He seemed to be looking at me in my deep blue eyes, and I wanted to fall forward and kiss him then, but I didn't. I couldn't.

"Come on, Dally," Darry said, laughing a little at me, "You know the answer to that."

"Yeah, Lucy, I think you do, too," Jacklyn whispered to me, obviously playing the same little guessing game as Darry was.

An awkward silence fell upon us as glances were traded between everyone.


	2. Five Years After That

Five years have gone by since that day I had fallen for Dally, and we hadn't become a couple. At the time, he seemed to be into me, even though I was thirteen and he was seventeen. Now at ages eighteen and twenty-two, things are getting a lot more flirtatious than they had been five long years ago.

Becky, who was falling for Soda by the second, told me that I should really start kicking up the whole flirting-with-Dally thing again.

"Are you crazy? I don't know if Dally's in love with me! Hell, I don't even know if I'm in love with Dally!'

"Of course you know you're in love with him. And as for him being in love with you, I can give you the answer, which is yes! Now meet him outside and just start talking. Maybe you'll inspire me to do the same with your brother."

"Oh, then by all means, go first! Maybe you'll inspire me, eh? Ever think of that?"

Becky shook her head. "Just start talking, Lucy. You really kill me, you know that?"

I said nothing in reply and went out to the front porch, where Dally sat, smoking a cigarette as usual.

"Hey Dal," I said as casually and as cutesy as I could.

He looked up from the cloud of smoke he was breathing, and when he saw me, his mean eyes turned kind.

"Oh, hey Lu," he greeted me, panic lurking in his voice.

"What's up?" I asked and sat next to him on the top step of the porch.

"I don't know," he answered. "You start smoking yet?"

"Not a chance. You know, I wish you wouldn't. Imagine what it's going to be like when some girl actually wants to kiss you." My heart rate increased to about fifty miles a minute, because I was the girl who actually wanted to kiss Dally.

"Well, that's never going to happen," he said, and he sounded disappointed.

"Dal, are you in love?" I asked him.

"Me, in love? God, I'd really like to think so. I just don't know. I mean, I think I am, but I don't know if I can be in love if I don't know if she loves me back. She's beautiful. And she's not going to give me the time of day."

I wondered if the person Dally was talking about was me. Okay, so I kind of knew that he was in love with me, but there was always the chance that I was wrong. So, I decided to talk to Dally about the fact that I was in love with him.

"Well, I'm in love," I added to his lament, "and I'd really love to think that he loves me back. Sometimes I get that feeling, but other times when he just completely blows me off I doubt that he loves me."

"Who are you in love with?" Dally asked.

I had hoped with all my strength that I knew how to answer this question. But right now, I was stuck. What was I going to say? I was eighteen years old and just couldn't tell Dally that I was in love with him.

"I'll tell you if you tell me," I said.

"Oh no, I don't want you freaking out first."

I grinned. "Why? Is it Becky? Jacklyn? Kelcie?"

"No, I mean, I like them, but not in the way I like you."

My grin disappeared. Dally had just admitted that he was in love with me, but I wanted to know if he had realized it.

"Dal, did you realize that you just said that you loved me?"

He cowardly smiled and said, "I did? God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that yet at all. The truth is, Lucy, I do like you. A lot."

Now it was my turn to shyly smile. "That's great, because I like you a lot too. How long have you liked me?"

"For about five years," he confessed. "Remember that one day when that Soc kid Michael broke up with you and Becky told you to make one of us fall in love with you? I realized that guy was me, and that I had been in love with you. Yeah, I know we're four years apart and everything, but I've liked you for that long."

"Are you really in love with me?" I asked. Dally was so sexy with his huge brown eyes and thick, dark hair. He had something that made him so gorgeous, but I really didn't know what it was.

"Yeah. I love you, Lucy."

Wow. This had gone on a lot more perfectly than I had expected. At first I thought that there was no way that Dally could love me, or anyone, other than Johnny. But he did, and he loved me. Wow.

"I love you too, Dally."

Neither of us said anything for a while. Then we both looked at each other again, and I noticed that Dally's cigarette was gone.

He looked at me and kind of laughed, and I did the same. We were both pretty much adults, so why were we acting like fifteen-year-olds? And then it happened. Both of us dove into each other and just started kissing. It was almost like my first kiss, even though I had kissed Michael a lot five years ago. With Dally it was like magic, and he was so good at it! He held me perfectly and totally embraced the moment.

I don't know how long Dal and I had been kissing when Becky and Soda walked onto the porch. There was laughter in the background, nervous and taunting laughter, obviously. I tried my best to ignore it and still have my lips pressed against Dally's.

"You know, I heard if you kiss someone for too long, you lose oxygen and your brain gives out," Becky stated.

This finally made us stop, and that disappointed me. Why did Becky have to just come and start making fun of me? It was her idea for me to start flirting with the guy! Wasn't it good if I had brought it up a step and kissed him?

"Becky, get out." I warned her.

"Hmm, I never thought you'd be the one making out with guys on the porch, Luciella. Didn't you always envision me as that one in the pair of best friends?" Becky asked slyly.

"Becky, get out," I repeated myself.

"Look, Beck, don't you think that you should respect your best friend? She's my sister and you're my friend, and I love both of you. Still, I'm siding with her on this one," Sodapop advised.

Becky's face got red with anger, but I knew she wasn't mad at me. She was mad at Soda for calling her his friend and not his girlfriend. But why would he call her his girlfriend? They hadn't kissed or gone out at all, and Becky's flirting was even subtler than mine. I happened to know that Soda liked her in that way, he just didn't know how to tell her.

"Still, I always thought I'd have a make out on the front steps before she did," Becky teased, aiming the sneers at Soda and not me.

I spoke up for my brother, Dally, and myself and shouted, "REBECCA LYNNE HARRISON, GET OUT!"

Becky looked ahead at me, giving me her innocent eyes. She wanted me to know that she didn't mean to act like such an idiot; it was Soda that was influencing her behavior. Again, I knew that Becky was choosing to act like that, but she shouldn't. Soda knew her well enough and he liked her.

"Sorry about that," I muttered to Dally when Becky and Soda left. "You know Becky. She can get really carried away with things."

"Yeah, but why now? I mean, didn't she kind of always want you to end up with me? Why did she start freaking out on you?"

I looked at Dally, and for once his eyes got soft and understanding. I was so glad he felt this way for me and not someone else. It made me feel like I could really count on someone.

"Because of my brother," I confided in him. "She's in love with him. Becky is my best friend and I've always wanted her to be happy, but I wish she could just realize that Soda likes her as much as she likes him."

"Well, why don't you ask Soda to tell her?" Dally asked. "Wouldn't it make it a lot easier on all of you?"

I nodded. "You know, Dal, you're a really sweet guy when you want to be. I like that."

Dally, to my surprise, blushed a little and then smiled. "Really? God, I feel so stupid for acting like a fifteen year old. Hey Lucy?"

"Yeah?" I asked, telling him to go on.

"I know this is kind of a stretch, but not really because of what just happened and how long I've known you, but will you be my girlfriend?"

Containing my joy and happiness was a lot harder than I thought it would be, so I just let it all out. He wouldn't care if he really loved me, which I just knew he did.

"Yes!" I squealed. "This does mean you're my boyfriend, right?"

Dally chuckled. "Yeah, this means I'm your boyfriend."

We then leaned into each other and kissed again.


	3. Three Sides to Every Story

When we walked back into my house, we looked like we did before we officially became a couple. Our initial plan was to be subtle about it, and then casually tell the gang about it. However, that plan was destroyed, and not by Becky or Sodapop. Apparently, Two-Bit had seen Dally and I kissing on the porch, and no one was aware he was standing outside.

"Hey, knock-knock!" he began a joke which we all knew was going to end up perverted or downright stupid.

"Who's there?" Johnny asked with a sigh.

"Orange."

Everyone groaned this time. "Orange who?" Ponyboy asked wearily.

"Orange you glad you didn't have to see Lucy and Dallas eat each other's faces off?" Two-Bit was the only one laughing. Everybody else was looking at us.

The tension rose in me, and I wondered how Dally could keep cool all the time. I loved him, but I wanted to get him out of that. Why couldn't he be a mess like me?

"Wait a minute," Kelcie started in sharply, "You guys were kissing?"

"Yeah, what'd you think it meant, Kelcie?" Two-Bit asked. "You feel like givin' it a whirl with me?"

"In your dreams," she barked.

"Well, we didn't want to just come in screaming about it," Dally's words sounded like jazz radio air waves just making their way through the world. "Then you all would have charged at us."

"So, did you kiss or not?" Jacklyn asked.

"Yes, Jacklyn!" Becky snapped. "We established it when Two-Bit started hitting on Kelcie."

"Shut up!" Johnny squeaked from out of nowhere. None of us really regarded his little outburst until a bit later. No, this whole thing with Dally and me had to be settled first.

"Just so you all feel satisfied," I finally came in, "Dally and I did kiss. Twice, as a matter of fact. Which one did you happen to see, Two-Bit?"

"The one where Dally told you he loved you and then you told him you loved him. That kiss was about five minutes long."

Kelcie's eyes got wide and disgusted. "Do you have any idea how long of a kiss that is? Five SECONDS is a long enough kiss. But five minutes! Goddamn it, Luciella!"

I said nothing. Kelcie could seriously offend me sometimes, but I didn't understand why I couldn't let her know about it.

"Wait a minute," Soda cut in, "Dally, you told Lucy you love her?"

"Yeah," Dally muttered, "and I meant it. I still mean it, and I'll say it again. I love you, Lucy."

Suddenly I felt overwhelmed with all this emotion. There was love for Dally, and not to mention the platonic love for nearly everyone else in the room. I felt confused because I didn't know if Kelcie was for me or against me right now. Sadness rushed through me because I was afraid that people were mad at me. Happiness was there because Dally and I had kissed and now he was my boyfriend. And to top it all off, there was a bitter anger in me, and I didn't know why it was there.

Sincerely, and with tears in my eyes I replied, "I love you too, Dal."

Jacklyn was the first to "aww", and everyone but Kelcie followed.

"Come on, Kelcie," Steve urged, "why aren't you raving about how adorable it is?"

Kelcie merely shrugged. "I guess I'm used to romance."

"Used to it?" Two-Bit asked, cracking himself up. "How can you be used to something you haven't had anything of?"

"Will you just shut up?" Ponyboy shouted.

"Yeah, why don't you shut up, Two-Bit?" I snapped. Even when I was angry with Kelcie, I would jump to her defense. Why was this? Because even though she got on me nerves and made me want to kill her sometimes, I loved Kelcie. I loved everyone in that room more than I loved myself, and I wanted what was best for all of them.

"Well, I'm happy for you guys," Johnny came in suddenly, "Dally loves Lucy and he doesn't love nobody. You sure about that, Dal?"

"Of course I am," he said sharply, "Why don't you just believe me? I'll say it again! I love you Lucy. I love you."

"Dally, please, not now," I begged. Even though I did love him and I loved that he loved me, I didn't want him to proclaim it right now.

"He loves her all right," Sodapop assured everyone. "Trust me, he would have gone farther than that if it weren't for Lucy trying to keep it personal. I believe him, because we all know that Dally wouldn't show what he felt unless he really means it."

"What the hell is going on in here?" Darry's voice came. He hadn't been there; I didn't know where he had been.

"A lot of drama!" Jacklyn called.

Darry appeared next to Ponyboy a few seconds later. He seemed confused, and then he asked, "What's all this drama for?"

"Let me explain it in a pure knock-knock joke," Two-Bit offered.

"_No_!" everyone else shouted.

"Lucy, what happened?" he asked.

I clued him in on everything, and he wound up laughing. "Lucy, it seems so weird for you to be with a guy, especially Dally. But why do you all have to turn it into such a big deal?"

"Because it is a big deal!" Kelcie shrieked. "Darry, Two-Bit said that Dally and Lucy were on the porch kissing for five minutes! And it was just one kiss! Five seconds is a long time! They kissed on a porch where everyone could see it!" She turned to me.

"I still want to know what the hell is the matter with you, Luciella."

With that, my brothers went crazy. They hate it when people ask what's the matter with me, and they especially hate it when it's from people who call themselves my friends and then when they follow it up with Luciella. My brothers know that there's nothing wrong with me. I'm just different, even with other misfits like me.

"You shut your mouth, Kelcie Valentino!" Ponyboy shouted at her. "There's nothing the matter with my sister and you know it! Why is it that whenever she's got something you want, you treat her like she's some kind of freak?"

Now, right away I had realized Ponyboy had hit on something. Could it be that Kelcie was jealous of me? Why DID she treat me like I was some kind of freak when something good happened to me?

"Kelcie, leave Lucy alone! She's beautiful, smart, and absolutely wonderful!" Sodapop was almost crying, which was his main tactic for anger. "Just because you feel inferior to her for some strange reason doesn't mean you can go around making her feel like shit when you panic!"

It was one of the rare times you ever hear Soda curse, but it made me feel like he was a real person when he did. You see, to me all four of us siblings had a reputation within our own house. We all shared the smart rep, even Soda, who thinks he's stupid. But to us Darry's the strong one, Soda's the angel, Ponyboy's the caring one, and I'm the creative one. When Soda curses, I know that his angel rep goes away for a little while. Then it comes back and he acts like the Soda I know and adore.

"You listen, Kelcie, and you listen good," Darry began briskly. "Lucy is a great person, and you need to stop belittling her when something excited happens to her and not you. I'm not going to make you apologize, but know that I think you're wrong."

Kelcie glared at me, like she always did when something bad happened to her and I was somewhat involved. Even if the situation had nothing to do with me, like when my mother embarrassed her at the store one time, she took it all out on me. And I was getting tired of it.

"How did all of this go from Lucy and Dal to Kelcie being jealous of Lucy?" Johnny asked. "Why is it that none of us can get along for two minutes?"

"We can and we have," Becky said hotly. "Today is just a little shocking for all of us, and I suggest we put it behind before someone sets the house on fire."

Everyone in the room looked at Becky like she was covered in cockroaches. No one ever mentioned fire anymore, especially not around Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally. Johnny almost died from being trapped in a fire that he possibly started, and we've avoided the actual object and talking about it in any form now. We now refer to it as "The Deathly F Word."

"Did you forget to call it The Deathly F Word?" Jacklyn screeched. She's very sensitive, and it's kind of surprising that she wasn't dating Soda and Becky almost was. They were both my best friends, but from what I could see, Jacklyn had more in common with him. Oh well, she was interested. She had been in love with Ponyboy since we were fifteen. What is with my friends and them falling in love with my brothers?

Becky bit her bottom lip and smiled shyly, something she rarely did. "Yeah, I did. Oh shit, I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay, Beck," Johnny said, forgivingly like he always did when someone obviously offended him in some way, "I know you were just mad and trying to find out how to explode. We can't all be like Dal."

Dally smirked at him, and then they both began to laugh. I don't know what it had been that made Dally seem less mean over the last five years, but I certainly felt better about being in love with him now that he was nicer.

"Can we please all act like adults and settle all of this?" Darry pleaded. "Kelcie, you know that Lucy and Dally kissed on the porch for five minutes. Get over it. She hasn't had a boyfriend since she was thirteen, so I'd be happy for her if I were you. And again with you, Kelcie, stop treating Lucy like she's a worthless piece of trash, because I know that a lot of the time she feels that way."

_Why thank you, Darry_, I thought. He was just trying to help, but it wasn't really doing much good.

"We aren't adults," Jacklyn pointed out. "Kelcie, Lucy, Becky and I don't graduate high school until June."

"You're all eighteen, are you not?"

"Seventeen," they all responded in unison. Jacklyn wouldn't be eighteen until next October. She was the real baby sister, not me.

"Well, adults and high school seniors, can we try to handle this like we're not in eighth grade? Personally, I'm happy that Dally loves Lucy and Lucy loves Dally."

"Me too," Becky answered, smiling softly at me. "You know, I love you too, Lucy."

"This is getting too dramatic for my taste," Two-Bit began seriously, but we all knew he was joking. "I mean, I understood the whole Lucy and Dally romance, and I'm happy for you guys, too. But this whole Becky being in love with Lucy thing? All these years I thought you were into Sodapop."

Sodapop blushed and Becky glared at him. "You know what I meant," she hissed through clenched teeth. When Becky got angry, she wasn't afraid to show it, and that's one of the reasons why she's my best friend.

"I love you too, Becky," I replied. "Thanks for always being my best friend." We ran over to each other and hugged. I don't think anyone else really knew what Becky and I had been through together. There were a lot of things we had done together and rescued each other from. She was definitely my best friend out of everyone in that room.

"We've been through a lot together, haven't we?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes, but she was grinning anyway.

"Yeah," I said. "Why are you crying? What happened?"

"I feel really overwhelmed right now. Do you think I should just walk over to your brother and tell him how I feel? And then there's you and Dally and the fact that you're dating. That was like, my finest wish for you, Lu. And you got it! Oh man, I feel so happy for you right now, but nervous for myself."

"Go out there and just tell my brother what the hell is eating at you like a fatal disease!" I encouraged.

She laughed and walked over to Sodapop, giving him a bigger smile and trying her best to hide her happy/nervous tears from him.

"Hey Soda?" she asked anxiously.

"Yeah Becky?" he was nervous too. How cute was that?

"You know how Two-Bit said that for all these years he thought I was into you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the truth is, he's right. I AM into you. Are you into me?"

"No shit," Dally whispered to me, and I smacked him across the chest.

"Becky, I've always been in love with you." He took her in his arms and lightly kissed her lips, but only lightly.

"I swear to you, if one more couple gets together tonight," Darry started, "I'm going to quit my job and you'll have to find ones of your own, Pony and Lu."

"Going to school is my job," I pointed out.

"Mine too," Ponyboy said defensively.

"You're," he said, pointing at me, "eighteen, which is old enough to get a job. And you're in college, which is an even different story than your sister's."

"Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that, Darry," Jacklyn complained, even though she sounded serious like it would have came from Johnny, "Those four are the only ones that we could ever see falling in love anyway."

I glanced at Jacklyn sympathetically, and her eyes turned from Ponyboy to me. I knew she was happy for Becky and me, but I also knew that she wanted Ponyboy to be hers.

"Keep on, Jacklyn," I encouraged her, and I didn't mouth it like I normally would have. Everyone turned and looked at me.

"What'd she say?" Ponyboy asked.

"It's none of your business," I told him. "Yet."

Jacklyn grinned excitedly and then walked next to Ponyboy and stood there for a little while.

"Is everything settled now?" Steve asked. "I'm getting really tired of you all yelling at each other."

"I think so," Johnny informed him. "Guys, are we done fighting and getting together as couples?"

Everyone nodded like they were serious, then laughter struck everyone. Sometimes the drama in our house was a cause of Two-Bit or Dally stealing something from a store and having to hide them from the cops, or Johnny getting beat by his parents and having to help him out. But other times the drama was as simple as who fell in love with who and who said the word "fire" even after we had banned it.


	4. I Love You

Later that night, Kelcie stormed out of the house when Two-Bit tried to make out with her. He was drunk, and she knew it because we had watched him drink, so she knew he didn't mean half the things he was saying.

"I ain't taking him home," she told all of us as she grabbed her bag and pulled up her jeans. "Somebody else will have to. I ain't gonna wake up with _him_ next to me. Chances are he won't even know how he got there."

"I'll take him home, Kelcie," Darry assured her. "You won't have to worry about it, though I doubt anything like that would happen. It's one in the morning, did your mom know how long you were gonna be here?"

"I told her I'd be back around two or three," Kelcie told him. "She's not worried, and she'll probably be glad to see I'm back at one. Besides, it's Friday. Most people who go out on Friday don't get back until three in the morning on Sunday."

"That doesn't sound like you," Becky's voice came loudly but tiredly from the kitchen. You seem like the type to be home at nine-thirty, like a good girl is supposed to."

"Yeah, well, if you're insulting my ways of life, you can go (I'll replace the word Kelcie used with another because I hate this word) _marinate_ yourself, Becky."

"Becky declines the offer. She's got Soda to help her with that one now!" Two-Bit was the only one laughing at his joke. The rest of just stared at him.

Kelcie stormed out the door and it slammed behind her. Darry told me to watch her leave, and I did. She looked pissed off as she sped down the road to her place.

"That girl sure is a bitch if I ever saw one," Ponyboy confessed. "I know she's our friend and she's the girls' best friend, but when she wants to act like a bitch, she sure does."

"We know, Ponyboy," Jacklyn said, her voice shaking. "I love Kelcie, and she's been my best friend since we were a year old. But I know as well as you do that she's mean to people, especially people that love her."

"She'll be over it soon," Johnny guaranteed us. "We've all known Kelcie for her entire life, and we know she's going to get over it soon and start acting like a friend again."

"Then something new will piss her off and she'll start acting like a bitch again," Dally pointed out. He moved closer to me and put an arm around my neck. "God, that girl was giving you a hard time tonight, Lu. I wonder why. Maybe she's secretly into me."

I snorted. "You wish. Wait, you better not, because if you do, I will be very jealous. And jealousy is good for nothing."

"If I kissed you would you believe that I don't wish?" Dally asked hopefully.

"But of course," I came back with.

We kissed, but lightly and only for three seconds, and if Kelcie were there, she'd be telling us how that was a respectable time limit for lip locking.

Becky appeared from the kitchen with a can of Coke in hand. She, like me, knew that drinking was disgusting, and being Greasers we knew what beer tasted like, but we hated it.

"Well, I'd better go," she told us all. "My mom will probably be worried about me, unlike Kelcie's who only worries where her make-up is."

Soda stood up and stared at her. "You'll be here tomorrow, right?"

Becky giggled and said, "Soda, has there ever been a day that I haven't been here?"

"No."

"Come here."

He walked slowly toward her, but she grabbed him and kissed him anyway. She wasn't afraid of anything. Becky was wild and reckless, but she knew when to keep it controlled and when to let it shine through. She was my best friend, and I was proud of that.

"I'll see you, Becky," Soda said nervously.

"I'll see you."

She left and got into her car, and my brother watched her leave. "Why didn't she tell me she liked me before I was twenty-one and it's illegal to date her now?"

"Oh shit!" I squealed. "Damn it, Soda, what the hell are you gonna do now? You can't just break up with her! How about you just hang out around here? That should be fine, I guess. Wait, is the law that you can't date her, or is it that you can't sleep with her? I don't know. Damn it, Soda, what the hell are you gonna do?"

He laughed at me. "Will you chill out, Lucy? I'll just be with her over here, and then when she turns eighteen in July, I won't feel so guilty."

I smiled with relief, and then I turned to Dally. "Dal, was it weird? Being eighteen and kind of in love with someone who was fourteen?"

"Hell yeah, it was. But I wasn't completely sure if I was in love with you then. I never had a girlfriend after Sylvia ran out on me and Michael ditched you. So, I guess I didn't really realize that I was in love with you until you were sixteen. Still, that's a long time to be thinking about being in love with a person."

At first, I didn't say anything. Sylvia was Dally's only girlfriend before me, and she had dated him five years ago. When they were dating, it wasn't much romance. He had kissed her, but never slept with her. Plus, I didn't care much about it because I was dating Michael, and we had all broken up around the same time.

"Did you ever wish that you could still be dating Sylvia?" I asked. "I mean, not now, but ever since you split up with her?"

Dally laughed out loud. "Are you crazy? Of course not! Sylvia was a slut, and had cheated on me so many times before the last one. She was even pretty. But you, oh man, you're beautiful. And she was stupid. You're smart."

"Thanks." I said. "You can start proclaiming your love to me now."

"I love you, Lucy. I love you. I love you. You're the most wonderful, beautiful thing ever to come into my life. You're the nicest and most powerful girl that I've ever heard of. Lucy, I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you! You have a gift that makes you want to fight, and I love that you're so tough and tuff. I love you. I love you. I love you! You are the inspiration of my life and the sweetest thing I could ever imagine. I love you! I love you! _I love you_."

My eyes instantly began to well up with tears. I fell forward and kissed him again, making sure it was just perfect.

"Now it's my turn," I said once we broke free. "I love you, Dally. I love you. I love you. I love you! You have some much love in you, and you're learning how to use it. You are good-looking and risky, but I know that's the way you're supposed to be. I love you. Dally, I love you. I love you. I love you. You're always going to try to protect the ones you love, and I know you'll always protect me. I love you. I love you. I love you! You have a devious mind, and even though people think it's useless, I know that you try to use it for evil because you still think good isn't 'tuff.' I love you! I love you! I love you!"

Dally said nothing, and I knew by that he meant he knew I was telling the truth. I did love him in all the ways that I said, but I didn't know if my series of 'I love you' was as powerful as his.

Sodapop walked back into the room and looked at Dally. "Dal, you should probably leave. There's no way I'm letting my sister go back to school on Monday telling everyone what she did with her twenty-two-year-old boyfriend on Friday night."

He smirked and said, "Okay, I'll go. But I'll dream about what could have been tonight. It'll be so realistic that you can feel it, Lucy."

I threw my handbag at him and hit him in the eye. "You have a good aim," he complimented. "Come here."

So, I walked toward him and let him kiss me. Dally smiled, laughed, and walked out of my house. Soda then began to laugh at me as I stared at Dally. He was driving off to wherever it was he would be tonight, and I loved him wholeheartedly for that.

"Luciella Elizabeth Curtis, you are in love," he taunted. "You are WAY in love. You are way DEEP in love."

"Shut up, Soda," I warned. "I'm going to bed."

"Better not have Dally stashed in your closet," Ponyboy shouted from in his room.

"He left, you dumb ass!" I called to him. "What are you doing in there anyway?"

"Trying to sleep, but you and Dally screaming 'I love you' is keeping me awake," he called back to me. "I'm nineteen, you're eighteen. I'm the big brother; you're the little sister. Shouldn't I be the one on the couch with a girl telling her I love her? The little sister up at this hour with a guy just seems wrong."

"I've said it many times before and I'll say it again," I hissed as I passed Ponyboy's room and was ready to walk into mine. "Shut up."

He said something, but it was muffled under the blankets. I ignored it and got myself into my bed. When I closed my eyes I envisioned Dally, and I felt odd knowing that he was my boyfriend now. It was a good kind of odd, like one that makes you feel as if you can do anything. _Dallas Winston is my boyfriend_, I whispered to myself. And I think I could feel him being there that night.


	5. The First Date

Dal and I had been dating since March, a month after I turned eighteen. Now it had been two months, and everything was still amazing. Sure, we had fights, but what healthy relationship doesn't? It wasn't like we ever took knives and chains out on each other, because then I would have broken up with him in an instant. But I loved being with him.

On our first official date, Dally took me to the drive-in. I told him I really didn't think we should be there, but he insisted on going.

"Why do you want to go there anyway?" I asked him repeatedly for a while. "Are you gonna meet some dumb girl, Greaser or even Soc, and dump me for her? There's no point to going there. All they're gonna show is some beach movie anyway."

"Oh, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. You know why I want to go there. And besides, I wouldn't dump you for anybody. One, because there can't be a girl out there more beautiful than you, and I love you."

"You'd better watch it before I pound you," I threatened. My threats work on most people, but I hadn't tried them on Dally before now.

"In that case, I guess I should lay off what I had in mind. Just tell me, Lulu, am I allowed to kiss you there?"

"Of course! That's the whole point of going, even though I see no point. But if I'm going with you, I guess that's the only reasonable thing to do. Honestly, Dallas Winston, I can't tell you how many times over the past two months that I'll sleep with you when I graduate in June. That's only a month away."

"A month? Damn, I was wishing you guys graduated in two weeks. Will you drop out of school?"

I sarcastically laughed at my boyfriend's stupidity. "Of course not. If I dropped out, I wouldn't graduate, so that means your finest wish would never come true."

His eyes widened and he gave me a huge grin. "Then by all means, get that diploma! Become valedictorian! Just graduate, for all I care right now! I love you, Lucy."

"First off, I'm going to get my high school diploma. Second, I already am valedictorian. Third, I'm going to graduate, and fourth, I love you, too, Dally."

"This is always good. Can we go already? I'm kind of waiting for you to kiss me, and the sooner we get there, the sooner we can start making out."

I rolled my eyes but let him drive anyway. Dally had to be the craziest driver I had ever been in a car with. Sodapop thought he was a bad driver, so he hardly ever drove. Of course, Soda thinks he's bad at everything, so I don't know what he's good at. When he has though, he hasn't been bad. Darry drives at almost three miles per hour, and I've never driven with Ponyboy. But Dally? Call the police. He went through red lights, yellow lights, and sped through the green lights! Sometimes the man would drive with no hands on the wheel. Whenever he would drive, I would seriously try to think of all the reasons I love him, and not that, the only reason why I wish he could just die for about a day.

"And we're here," Dally said slowly as he parked as far away from the screen as possible. We droned out all the sound and rolled up the windows completely. "And how are you, my dear girl?"

I giggled nervously. "Why, I'm just peachy keen, my dear man!"

We laughed, tumbled head first into each other, and started kissing. We kissed and we kissed and we kissed. Neither of us cared that Kelcie, who still wouldn't let go of the whole five minutes on the porch thing, would be scolding us right now. No, she was the farthest thing from my mind, and I just knew he wasn't thinking about her at all. The only thing that mattered to me in that moment was being in that car with Dally, and his lips pressing against mine.

"Lucy," Dally would whisper every time we'd back away. "Lucy."

"Will you stop?" I shouted. "It's kind of creeping me out!"

He chortled. "Sorry. You're just all I can think about."

"Well, apparently you're thinking about the right words to say there."

Again, he laughed. "Lucy, you're the center of my thoughts, always."

"Oh, is that it?" I was making myself seem angry because Dally would try overly hard to make me happy again.

"Well, yeah. I love you, Lucy." He looked at me hopefully, like if there was some chance I could ever forgive him. But for what could I forgive him? There was nothing he had done that night!

I smiled at him and answered, "I love you, too." Then we leaned forward and kissed each other again. It wasn't as weird as I thought it would be, being in a drive-in with my boyfriend making out. Still, I wanted to leave.

"Come on, Lu," he told me as he moved over to the driver's seat, "it's been an hour and I've already had enough of this place. You have too, right? Because if you haven't, I'll stay."

"No, go ahead, you were right about how I feel about this place," I told him completely honestly. "We should go over to my place. It's only 9:00, and everyone's probably there anyway."

"They miss us," Dally joked. "What's not to miss?"

I laughed and demanded, "Don't just pretend we're leaving, start driving!"

We drove off and didn't say much to each other. Sometimes, there was just no point to words. Just being in someone's presence was enough.

When Dally pulled up at my house, he leaned over to me and whispered, "Maybe we should get everybody to think we're fighting."

"Yeah, no. That's just a way to cause more drama in this house. Kelcie will turn me into an even bigger bitch than she's had me sketched out to be for the past two months."

Dally softly laughed. "You're right. Maybe we should just go in like two normal people that weren't just making out at a drive-in movie."

"I think even Kelcie's done that, Dal, so there's no use in pretending."

No reply. After all, we had no need for speaking. All he had to do was grab for my hand and we walked in. Sure enough, everyone was there, acting like idiots like always.

"Hey guys," I shouted, and everyone turned to look at me. I'm the loudest person in the gang, even louder than Dally and Darry. Actually, I'm a lot louder than both of them, so it's a surprise that Johnny actually likes to talk to me.

"Hey Lucy," Sodapop greeted me, "Hey Dally. I thought you guys wouldn't be home 'til midnight."

"We got bored," Dally answered and sat down on the floor. He looked up at me, and his expression seemed to say, "Come here."

Two-Bit laughed his almost drunken, I'm-gonna-tell-the-stupidest-joke-ever laugh. "Ha-ha! Look, Lucy, he's making a play for you on the floor in front of all of us! Don't take the deal!"

I punched him in the gut and scolded through clenched teeth, "That's enough perverted-ness out of you!"

"Damn, girl," he whistled. "I forgot how hard of a puncher you are."

"Don't forget again," I hissed, and sat next to Dally on the ground.

"Just a question," Kelcie began, "but did either of you watch the movie?"

"None of your business," Dally said.

Kelcie's face turned red with anger, like it tended to a lot. "Listen, Dallas, I'd shut up if I were you. Everyone here is supposed to tell everyone everything, and you aren't being completely honest with everyone."

Dally chuckled at her. "And that's supposed to make sense? If that means what I think it means, I don't think anyone else really cares whether or not Lucy and I watched a movie or made out the whole time."

"I do," Darry admitted.

"So do I," Ponyboy followed.

"Oh, come on guys," Soda begged. "Lucy's eighteen. She's allowed to have a boyfriend, and she's gonna make out with guys! It's not like she's been a rebel before. Plus, you knew if she was going to a drive-in she was gonna make out the whole time. It's not like either of you haven't done that, right?"

"Yeah, what's my business is my business," I agreed. "And I am eighteen. I should be allowed to kiss guys, especially ones I've known for my whole life."

"She's going out with Dallas!" Darry shouted, more to Soda than to me. "Dallas, who was arrested at the age of ten! Dallas, who dated a whore and kept taking her back every time she cheated on him! Dallas, who comes home at five in the morning and leaves at six!"

"Stop it!" I wailed. "I thought you all were fine with me going out with Dally! Darry, I love him, and he loves me. You knew that. I'll always be your… baby sister."

He looked to the floor where Dally was sitting, and then he looked to me. "No, you won't," he whispered. "And that's the problem."

Jacklyn, my best friend who scared and cried easily, looked nervous as my oldest brother moved closer to me.

"Dal, honey, I think you should get up," I warned him. So he did, and moved to comfort Jacklyn.

"What do you mean I won't always be your baby sister?" I asked. He had always made me seem like I was going to be the baby. Why was he changing his mind now?

"Look, Lucy, I love and adore you. You will always be the youngest in our family, but you won't always be a baby. I know I've always made you feel like that before, but you're growing up. You're eighteen years old. I guess I should have realized that before."

"Do you really mean that?" I asked. "And all that stuff you said about Dally back there, does that mean you don't like him?"

"Well, he isn't the most angelic person you could be dating, but he is Dally, and he loves you. I know Dallas Winston well enough to know that he's going to take care of the ones he loves."

"The very few that have been selected, eh?" I jokingly asked.

"He loves more than you'd expect. Now go. I want that to be forgotten, hear me?"

I grinned at Darry. "Yep."

"So, how sentimental was it in there?" Dally asked me as I sat down next to him on the couch.

"Oh, very," I said. "You know, the normal growing up baby girl talk."

He looked puzzled, and I knew he would be, but not for long.


	6. Will You

Two years had passed since the night of my first date with Dally. Now I was twenty years old and we were still dating. However, he had never brought up the subject of marriage, and I had decided it was getting close to time to be getting engaged.

The day of our two-year anniversary as a couple was one day that changed my life. If it had not happened, I'd be a totally different person now. When I woke up that day, I wasn't alone. Dally was next to me, smiling the crazy idiot he really was.

"Dally, what the hell are you doing here?" I shouted. "Do you want me to die before you can marry me?" By now, he probably knew this was a display of my total aggravation at him for not proposing yet.

"No," he answered, looking a lot more sly than usual. "Get up and get dressed. We've got way too much to do on our second anniversary as a couple, and you don't have time to sleep in."

"Well, if anything, you need it," I snapped. "You get what, an hour per night? I'd die if I lived like you. What times is it anyway?"

"Seven-ten. But I'm not giving you the big surprise until you act like the normal, gorgeous Lucy I know and love. You could deny it if you act like this."

That's when I knew what the big surprise was. If I acted like this, I could deny it? Oh shit. Dally was going to ask me to marry him.

Okay, so I knew this wasn't an "Oh shit" situation, but it was kind of surprising. I was only twenty, but most Greasers get married at eighteen or nineteen, I'm almost overage for marriage in my neighborhood. But still, Dally proposing? It still made me crazy.

"Leave," I instructed him before I started getting dressed. Dally had to be the biggest pervert I had ever known, but it was kind of okay because I was his girlfriend.

"Why?" he asked. "You're going to take off your clothes. Don't you think I should be allowed to see?"

"Once was enough before we get married, if we get married."

He grinned mischievously and left the room, but more like sauntered. I _loved_ when he did that. It was the classic Winston walk, and it made him look all the more sexy. Then I pictured us as old people, married, and when he's not sexy anymore. Dally, as an old man, just didn't seem right. Would I still think he was sexy? Would he still strut around? What would we be like when we were old?

When I came out into the living room of my house, which I surprisingly had enough money to buy, Dally looked at me like I was the long lost eighth wonder of the world. It made me feel strange, even though I knew he thought I was beautiful and I knew he loved me. Though, the fact that any guy would stare at me just didn't seem right.

"You're amazing, Lucy," he whispered and approached me slowly. Dally grabbed me and kissed me, and kissing him still made me feel like I was trapped in whirlwind of colors and romance.

"I love you, Dal," I said, trying not to cry. Why I was almost reduced to tears by the kiss I didn't know. Maybe I was looking forward to his possible proposal.

"I love you too, Lucy," he kept his gentle whisper. "Listen, I'm not going to give you this huge monolog, so I'm just going to give you the facts. I love you, and I think you are the most amazing, unstoppable, beautiful girl this world has ever seen. Lucy, will you marry me?"

What'd I tell you? Of course he was going to propose! That made me so happy, I was certain I was going to die on the spot. Now I finally let all the tears go when he asked the question.

"Yes!" I squealed. "Yes! Did you even have to ask? You could tell me we were getting married tomorrow with no guests, no formality at all, and I would still marry you."

"You would?" Dally asked, surprised. I figured he thought all women wanted a big, fancy wedding."

"There's not a doubt in my mind. All I really care about is marrying you."

And we kissed again.

Later that day, we walked over to my brothers' house, the sanctuary where everyone still gathered everyday. Things sure had changed since I was a teenager. Becky and Sodapop were still dating, but not engaged, which made Becky even more nervous than I had been. Jacklyn and Ponyboy started dating the day after our high school graduation, and signs of marriage haven't been shown at all. God, my brothers needed to get a move on! Kelcie was obviously in love with Johnny, and I knew he was in love with her because I heard it from Ponyboy, who just doesn't lie to me.

"Hey guys," Johnny greeted us as we walked through the door. "It's your two-year anniversary, isn't it?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yes, and we wouldn't have dropped by if we didn't have to tell you this."

"Oh no," Kelcie started. "What happened?"

"It's not bad," Dally informed her.

"Sure, sure," she snorted.

"Will you just tell us what it is?" Steve asked impatiently.

"Should you tell them, or should I?" I turned to Dally and asked him.

"You," he said. "I'll just stand here and look sexy."

I sniggered. "You guys, Dally and I are getting married!"

Everyone's jaw dropped and then they started yelping and clapping. Soda walked up to me first, smiling like a proud big brother, and gave me a hug.

"Congratulations, Lucy," he whispered. "I knew he was the right one. Listen, I've been thinking. When should I ask Beck to marry me?'

I could feel my eyes light up with excitement for my best friend and my brother. "Wait about a month, until this thing with Dally and me clears up. Then ask her. She'll be so happy."

"I hope so," he continued his low whisper. "Congratulations again, babe." He leaned over and gave me an even bigger hug than the first one. As soon as he turned around, Becky was there, waiting for her hug.

"Oh my gosh!" we yelped at the same time. Both of us started laughing and jumping up and down.

"It's like we're thirteen again!" I screeched. "But not!"

"You're getting married! To Dally! The man you've been in love with for seven years. This is so cool!"

There was more jumping up and down and hugging. She and I were the ultimate best friends, and one day we were going to be eighty years old and driving around in a Mustang screaming "SEXY" at the top of our shriveled-up lungs.

All throughout that day there was screaming, crying, hugging, yelping, kissing from six of us, and it was just fun. I felt like I was a teenager again. Given, I wasn't that much older than a teen, but I still missed being in high school and being able to tell everyone about my boyfriend who was twenty-two.

Dally and I left at around ten o'clock, which was kind of early for us. We walked back to my place, and he was on the look out for any guy who looked like him or worse.

"The only guy you can trust that looks like this is me," he would say. "Everyone else is bad.'

I rolled my eyes, knowing that I could take care of myself. "Two-Bit knows how hard I punch," I said absently. "Would you like to know?"

"Nope. Listen, what are we gonna do for our wedding?"

"I don't know. We'll think of something. But I know one thing for sure."

"What? You want a mechanical bull?"

"Hell no. I love you."

"Oh, like that wasn't cliché or anything."

"Come on, Dally, bear with me."

He smiled and whispered. "I love you, Lucy. I love you more than the day I fell in love with you if that's even possible." Then he kissed me, told me yet again that he loved me, and drove to wherever he was going that night.

"I swear," I whispered to myself, "when I marry that man, I have to know where he is and he's going to have to have an adult curfew of one in the morning."


	7. The Wedding

Four months went by, and not much had changed. Dally and I were still getting married, and so were Becky and Soda. Jacklyn and Ponyboy, on the other hand, hadn't even talked about marriage. My wedding day, set for July 14, was coming, and Becky's, set for August 15, was being rushed. July 14 approached sooner than I thought.

That day, I wasn't very nervous. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and that was to get married to Dally. He was the one for me, and I had known that for years. Dally on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. I thought he was going to pass out.

"Shit, shit, shit," I heard him mutter to my brothers. "I'm panicking here, man. What if I screw up my vows? What if I make such a fool of myself, your sister doesn't want to marry me?"

"First off," I heard Ponyboy begin the advice, "you ain't gonna screw up your vows. And Lucy, which you should have called her, instead of 'your sister', will want to marry you, screwed up vows or not."

"Yeah, Pony's right," Soda agreed. "Lucy loves you and wants nothing more than to be with you. She's going to marry you no matter what. She'd marry you outside in a thunderstorm. Now if you'd excuse me, I have to go be with the person who I love and want nothing more than to be with."

"Don't be nervous, Dal," Darry advised. "There's nothing to be nervous about. You know you want to marry Lucy, right? So don't make it seem like you don't want to."

Well, I was happy that somebody understood why I wasn't the nervous one! Before I knew it, it was time to walk down the aisle. Becky looked gorgeous, but she was mad that she had to walk down the aisle with Johnny, the best man, and not Soda, her fiancé.

"I just don't understand why Kelcie and I had to switch," she bitched about at the rehearsal. Johnny loves Kelcie, and Sodapop loves me. Why does it have to be this way?"

Of course, she didn't get her way, because when something didn't go right for Kelcie in the future and we didn't let her get her way, she'd use this as a trap.

Then it was time for the exchange of the rings, and Jacklyn was sobbing the moment mine touched my finger. Ponyboy snapped "Jacklyn" when the tears came, but he probably shouldn't have. Later I told him, "Thanks for ruining my wedding, Pony."

"Do you, Dallas Winston take Luciella Curtis to be…" on and on and on, I don't really feel like writing all of it out.

"I do," Dally finally told me.

"Do you, Luciella Curtis take Dallas Winston to be…" on and on and on, I don't really feel like writing all of it out.

"I do," I said to Dally.

"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Dallas Winston."

"Sexy!" Becky screamed.

When we kissed, everyone hooted and hollered, and things got wild.

Two months later, my life changed for good.


	8. Unexpected News

"Oh shit," I said, my regular phrase when something caught me off guard. That morning, I had found out something. I was having a baby. Sure, this was great and everything, but I wasn't even twenty-one yet! Well, yes I was married, but I was twenty! I'd only be twenty and a half when I had the baby!

"Oh shit!" I said again. Dally wasn't there, I didn't know where he was for sure. It was about nine in the morning, and I knew that I had to walk over to my brothers' house.

Since getting married, Soda still lives in our old house, and Darry moved to a little apartment not too far away. Ponyboy lives in a house five minutes away from mine, but he doesn't live with Jacklyn.

I walked into the house where I had grown up, knowing that it would be filled with people like always. But it wasn't. There was no one there, and since it was a Saturday morning in the middle of September, I thought people would want the time of relaxation.

"Hello!" I called. "Where is everybody?" I looked around, and finally, I heard someone get up. It was Sodapop.

"Hey Lu," he said, "Where's Dally?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. Probably out breaking the law. Where's everyone that's supposed to be here?"

"Becky had to go to some teacher meeting," Soda informed me. "Johnny and Kelcie went to Florida, and Two-Bit's probably still recovering from a hangover. Steve had to work early at the DX, and Darry's probably at home trying to escape from us. Jacklyn and Ponyboy are out with the wedding planner, I think. So, it's just me."

Jacklyn and Ponyboy got engaged a week after I married Dally. She was so happy she was crying, laughing, and screaming at all of us at the same time.

"You're an emotional mess, Jacklyn!" Steve teased her.

"And that's bad how?" I snapped, forming my hand into a fist. Steve immediately shut up.

"Okay, Soda," I said, "I came over here because I needed to talk to people. To be honest, I was gonna pull you aside into my old room, but I'm glad it's just you."

He looked panicked. "Lucy, what's wrong?" he asked frantically.

"It's not a big deal," I assured him. "Wait, yeah it is, but not a bad big deal. It's a good thing, hopefully, most likely. Oh shit." I could feel tears stinging in my eyes.

"Oh shit is right," Soda said with a half-laugh. "If you're gonna tell me what I think you're gonna tell me, it's kind of an 'oh shit' situation."

I tried with all my effort to smile, but it just couldn't happen. "This morning I found out that I'm pregnant.'

Soda smiled at me, trying to make me feel better, but it was only partially working. Being with my brother just made me feel better, but I was still overwhelmed by the whole thing. This wasn't our intention. We never planned on this to happen right now. But it did. Who knew how Dally was going to take it, or if he even wanted what was about to happen.

"Well, Lucy, it looks like you're on a roll of crazy things happening to you," he joked. Then Soda's expression turned serious. "What does Dally have to say about the whole thing?"

My eyes flooded with tears again, and I didn't answer him. I knew it wouldn't take him long to find out that Dally didn't know.

"Dallas doesn't know, does he?"

I shook my head, and I just kept crying. Soda's arm wrapped around my neck. It felt nice just to have my big brother comfort me again, like I was six and running to him because of the vampire in my dream. Sure, he had only been ten at the time, but he was a good help.

"Why was I the first one you told?" he asked.

"Because I just found out a few minutes ago," I sobbed, "and Dally wasn't home! I knew I could run to you because you've always been there for me. Sometimes I feel like you're the only one I really have!"

He kept patting my back and whispering things to me. "You're gonna be fine, Lucy. I know it. You're going to have the most beautiful baby in the whole world and that baby's gonna have the greatest parents ever, not to mention a fabulous uncle.'

I playfully slapped him like I had been doing all my life. "But why do I still feel so alone? I'm married, shouldn't I feel like I have someone?"

"In the end, all you really have is yourself. But for the most part, you have Dally, even though he's still a rebel. He's going to love you forever." Soda kissed me on the cheek and then whispered. "And I love you.'

"I love you too," I responded, still choking on the many tears that had come and were still streaming down my face.

We sat there, on the couch where I had first done a headstand, and he comforted me as I cried.

Telling Dally about it was hard, but his reaction was totally different than I had thought it would be.

When I finished my huge confession, Dally stared at me for thirty whole seconds. Then he burst into tears just like I had that morning with Soda.

"You are? Oh shit, this is amazing! What the hell are we gonna do? Is there anyway that I can be a father? I'm gonna be nothing like my dad, wherever the hell he is. Nope, I'm gonna be way better, and take care of my kid. Lucy, what the hell is going to happen now? And, and I promise, no more leaving to go be stupid at night and in the morning. From now on I come in at 9:45, at most twice a week. All I care about right now is you and our kid, and I'm freaking out right now, aren't I?"

I laughed. "Yeah, you are. But I'm glad. I started sobbing, too. But things will work out, and we will be good parents. That is, if you hold true to the 9:45 factor."

"I will, I swear!"

"Dal, honey, chill out. Things are going to work out. I love you."

"And I love you."


	9. Into the Future

In these months, Dally held true to his promise. He was home at 9:45 once a week, and only three times he came in at 9:45 twice a week. On most nights, he was home by 6:00. Dally proved himself to be ready for all of this. But I didn't know if I was.

I had just finished screaming at Kelcie. We have been friends forever, but we obviously have different values. She and Johnny just started dating, and they're taking it really slow. I don't care how fast or slow you take it, just as long as you love the one you're with. But Kelcie thinks moving at the speed I did is totally wrong. That day she yelled at me for it.

"Why are you into this, anyway?" she screamed at me.

I was kind of surprised, so I laughed. "Into what?"

"Oh, don't play dumb, Lucy. You know what I mean. Look, you got married when you were twenty. Now we're twenty-one, and two months after you got married, you found out you were going to be a mother. How do you manage with this speed? It's way too fast, and I think it's bad."

"Kelcie, it's my decision. Just because you want to move at the speed of a turtle on a hot day doesn't mean I have to."

She glared at me. "Very funny. I just don't understand why you think taking it slow is so hard!"

"Because it wasn't for me! I was meant to what you might call rush into things, but the things I rushed into were real! You and Johnny have something special too, but it's just different. It's not bad, and the way Dal and I took things isn't bad either."

I stormed out of Kelcie's apartment and walked a half-mile to my old house. Becky was there, and Soda was out shopping for her. She says she does too much of the shopping, so he's taking it off her hands.

"Hey Beck," I greeted her wearily.

"Lu," she said, standing up, "what's wrong?"

"Kelcie and I just started yelling at each other because she thinks what Dally and I did was wrong. We meant to get married last year, and just because it was fast means nothing. And this whole baby thing was a total accident!"

Becky stared at me for a little while, and then she whispered, "Did you want the baby?"

Then I looked at her and smiled a small smile. "Of course I want the baby, Becky. I didn't know it was going to happen like this, but I knew I wanted one eventually. Still, if it was supposed to happen now, it was supposed to happen now."

"That's a good way of looking at it, I guess. God, we've got one crazy life, don't we?"

"No. We've got two crazy lives."

Becky slapped me for correcting her common sense. "It's good to have you as my friend, Lucy."

"And you mine."

We had to be the luckiest people alive.

A few months later, I had a daughter. Dally and I named her Lola Sheridan Winston. All of my friends and family were there when Lola was born, except for Kelcie. She and Johnny broke up, and Kelcie wound up moving to California. None of us ever really saw her again. Jacklyn says that she's been called before, but I haven't talked to Kelcie since the day she yelled at me before I had Lola.

All in all, things were pretty good. Dally was a great parent, which was a little surprising because of his reckless past, and Lola seems to adore him. She looks more like me, but that smile is all Dally's. Four years later, we had another daughter, Sadie Rebecca Winston. She looks more like Dally, but her eyes look just like mine.

Even though the way I grew up was rough, I knew that I had a great life, because my friends and family truly love me, even though we had odd times. I loved everyone in my life, and even though Kelcie left and we met Alyson right before Soda and Becky got married, I loved both of them just the same.

When Lola was thirteen, she was in love with a Soc named Derek Holden, who happened to be Michael's son. I told her not to worry if Derek broke up with her. She might find a Greaser who loved her too much and she'd be as happy as I was.

Dally looked over at me and smiled as I said this to Lola.

"I love you," he mouthed, because the girls hate it when we say it out loud.

"And I love you," I mouthed back.

Things would never fade from that day as a teenager; even until the day I died. Once I found true love, it stayed with me forever.


End file.
